Underwater rocket



Oct. 30, 1962 L. A. MARETTI 3,060,854

UNDERWATER ROCKET Filed Dec. 21, 1959 IN VEN TOR.

Stats 3,060,854 UNDERWATER ROCKET Louis A. Maretti, Carpentersville, Ill., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Perma-Pier, Inc., Skokie, 111., a corporation of Illinois Filed Dec. 21, 1959, Ser. No. 860,859 2 Claims. (Cl. 102-345) The present invention is concerned with a new and novel device to provide a measure of safety for skin divers heretofore not possible to attain, and more particularly relates to a hand-held rocket, harmless to human beings, but capable of diverting predatory fish away from the vicinity of underwater swimmers, skin divers and the like.

An important object of this invention is to provide an entirely new means of enabling skin divers to engage in this sport without the attendant danger of attack from the various forms of dangerous fish found in ocean areas.

Another object of this invention is to provide a handheld rocket capable of being fired underwater without danger to the operator.

Still another object of this invention is to provide an inexpensive and handy device for protective use against attacking or otherwise undesirable fish.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a hand-held rocket capable of being fired with great accuracy, and at a target a considerable distance from the operator, thus providing a novel form of underwater rec reation. Moreover, an important object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved igniter and propulsion means for a hand-held underwater rocket, simpler in construction and more dependable in its operation.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is an outer side elevation view showing the external features of the invention.

FIGURE 2 is an outer front elevation view of the present invention.

FIGURE 3 is a cross sectional view taken substantially n the line IIIIII of FIGURE 2, showing the internal details of construction.

FIGURE 4 is a side elevation view of an alternate embodiment of the invention showing another form of rotation imparting means.

According to the present invention, a substantially hollow, cylindrical, pointed, waterproof body 2 of paper, plastic or other suitable material, which may be of any convenient length, but preferably ten inches or longer, is spirally wound with, for example, inch rope I which is glued to said body as shown in FIGURE 1. In the alternative, fins, or various other stabilizing or rifling means may also be employed to serve the same purpose. A flash powder 3 is positioned in the nose of the body 2 in an amount suflicient to produce the desired underwater detonation and flash.

A propellant charge 6 of suitable material, such as ammonium nitrate, guanadine nitrate, or the like, is positioned toward the rear of the rocket, and is spaced from said flash powder by a ballast 5 of sand, wax or other suitable material, through which is threaded a fuse material 4 connecting said propellant charge with said flash powder. It will be noted that the ballast 5 is spaced from the flash powder 3 by a suitable wall or wad 13. It will be further understood that when the propellant charge 6 has been consumed in the manner hereinafter described, it will ignite the fuse 4 which in turn will cause the flash powder to ignite.

Positioned immediately to the rear of the propellant charge 6 is a venturi 8 which fits snugly against the inside wall of the body 2 and which contains one or more small orifices 14. In my preferred embodiment I have found that an orifice size of .090 to .111 inch was most satisfactory, but it will be understood that my invention is in no way limited to these details of construction. Said venturi 8 is made of metal, plastic, wood or other materials, and the space on the forward side of the orifice 14 is filled with a fast ignition powder 7, such as black powder or the like, and said fast ignition powder 7 serves to ignite the propellant charge 6 which, as it is converted into an expanding gas through ignition, is exhausted forceably through the orifice 14 and thus propels the rocket through the water. Said fast ignition powder 7. is, however, ignited by means of a pull type igniter, shown in FIGURE 2, which consists of a suitable length of wire 12, coated with an ignition material such as red amorous phosphorus and black copper oxide or the like. As the wire 12 is pulled in the manner hereinafter described, it coacts with the metal orifice 14 which is coated with a quantity of antimony sulfide and potassium sulfate to create sparks which ignite thev fast ignition powder 7. It is most important to note that the coated wire 12 serves also to continually clean out the orifice 14 which may otherwise become clogged with products of combustion as the rocket is initially fired. Particularly in this respect, the device described herein represents an improvement over the co-pending application of George E. Gross, Serial Number 811,952, filed May 8, 1959 abandoned. As shown in the drawings, the rearward facing end of the coated wire 12 is fixedly attached to a plug 11. Said plug 11 is fitted securely into the end of the body 2, as a cork fits a bottle, and the entire contents are thus rendered waterproof. In addition, this makes it possible to fire the rocket, by simply removing the plug 11 which has the effect of pulling the pull igniter 12 and starting the chain reaction of ignition described above. In actual use I have found it most convenient to hang the invention from a belt worn around my waist, by a lanyard attached to the plug 11. Then, by grasping the rocket and exerting a sharp pulling motion, the cap is pulled off, the rocket is fired and ready for instantaneous use, all of which requires but one hand for the complete procedure. It will thus be seen that an underwater swim mer can easily and quickly protect himself from underwater danger without interfering with his other activity.

One of the primary advantages of this invention is the fact that the powder charges are of a magnitude such as to be virtually harmless to human beings. Yet, my experiments have shown that the flash may produce an underwater disturbance which is amply sufiicient to frighten sharks, barracuda, and any other fish or marine creature. The propellant charge is controlled by the venturi in such a way that the rocket may be handheld until release is desired without injury to the operator, and the rocket may even be detonated in the hand without serious danger or injury.

The full range of the rocket is, of course, dependent upon the size of the propellant charge, but I have found that a sufiicientrange is seventy-five to one hundred feet. In any event, the effective range of the device may be shortened by the operator, by increasing the length of time the rocket is held in the hand prior to its being released.

While any person can quite readily develop extreme, accuracy, it is known to be suflicient for such a fiash to be placed anywhere in the general vicinity of an intruding predatory fish, etc. in order to effectively frighten it away. Consequently, I have provided by my invention, a safe, convenient, inexpensive and useful method and device for making the popular sport of skin diving, or any otherunderwater pursuit, infinitely more safe than it presently exists.

It will, of course, be understood that modifications and variations may be made without departing from the scope of the novel concepts of the present invention; The specific example of the invention set forth herein is illustrative only, and various modifications in structure will doubtless occur to those skilled in the art.

I claim as my invention:

1. A rocket for traveling in a liquid medium comprising in combination, a substantially tubular liquid-proof casing closed at one end and open at the other, said casing having rocket rotation imparting means associated therewith and adapted to be manually grasped to provide the sole launching and initial direction imparting impetus to said rocket in said liquid medium a first chamber in said rocket containing a flash powder, wall means defining with said casing said first chamber, ballast means disposed adjacent to said wall means, fuse means extending through said ballast means and said wall means into said flash powder propellant means located in said casing adjacent to said ballast means and in ignition proximity to said fuse means, second wall means adjacent to said propellant means and retaining said propellant means in proximity to said ballast means, said second wall means having a generally frusto-conical shape and being formed with a central bore, a combination ignition and venturi means located in said bore of said second wall means characterized as a cup-shaped member having a small central orifice, said cup-shaped member having an open mouth extending into said propellant means, and coated wire means cooperable with said cup-shaped member to ignite said propellant means and having one end extending through said orifice, tube means extending from said bore in said second wall means, and surroundingly disposed to said wire means, sealing plug means sealing said open end of said casing and said tube means and fixed to the other end of said coated wire means whereby removal of said plug means while said rocket is immersed within a liquid medium causes ignition of said propellant and exhaustion of gases through said combination ignition and venturi means and said tube means and subsequent ignition of said flash powder said first chamber.

2. A rocket for traveling in a liquid medium comprising in combination, a substantially tubular liquid-proof casing closed at one end and open at the other, said casing having rocket rotation imparting means associated therewith and adapted to be manually grasped to provide the sole launching and initial direction imparting impetus to said rocket in said liquid medium, propellant means located in said casing, wall means adjacent to said propellant means and retaining said propellant means within said casing, said wall means having a generally frustoconical shape and being formed with a central bore, a combination ignition and venturi means located in said bore of said wall means characterized as a cup-shaped member having a small central orifice, said cup-shaped member having an open mouth extending into said propellant means, and coated wire means cooperable with said cup-shaped member to produce ignition of the propellant means and having one end extending through said orifice, sealing plug means for sealing the open end of said casing and fixed to the other end of said coated wire means whereby removal of said plug means while said rocket is immersed within a liquid medium causes ignition of said propellant and exhaustion of gases through said combination ignition and venturi means.

References ited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 249,192 Mallory Nov. 8, 1881 1,901,852 Stolfa et a1. Mar. 14, 1933 2,170,815 Eroe Aug. 29, 1939 2,389,782 Jackson Nov. 27, 1945 2,519,123 Dwyer et a1 Aug. 15, 1950 2,538,333 Schermuly et al Jan. 16, 1951 2,588,184 Walsh Mar. 4, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 4785A Great Britain Mar. 17, 1891 

